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PASTORAL  LETTER 


FROM      THE 


iiisljop  of  t|e  f  rotatant  ^jiscojjul  C^urrij 

TO    THE 

CLERGY    AND    LAITY 

OF     THE 

Cljiirrlj  in  tlie  CuntViiwutr  Itnte 

OF    AMERICA.. 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  COLlNClL, 
m  $T  PAULAS  CHURCH,  AUCUSTA, 

Saturday,  J^ov.  22d,  1862. 


AUGUSTA,     GA.: 
Steam  Power  Press  Chronicle  St  Sentinel 

18G2 


Tre-rure  Fvoom 


PASTOKAL  LETTER. 


At  your  request,  brethren  of  the  Clergy  and  Laity,  we 
conclude  the  session  of  our  First  General  Council  by  pre- 
senting to  you  and  reading  in  your  presence  a  Pastoral 
Letter,  addressed  to  the  members  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  scattered  throughout  the  Confederate  States. 
By  the  mighty  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  we  have  been  per- 
mitted to  bring  our  deliberations  to  a  close  in  a  spirit  of 
harmony  and  peace  which  augurs  well  for  the  future  wel- 
fare of  our  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic ;  and  our  first  duty 
is  to  thank  Ilim  who  has  promised  to  be  with  His  Church  to 
the  end  of  the  world,  for  His  presence  with  us  during  our 
consultations,  and  for  the  happy  conclusion  to  which  lie  has 
brought  our  sacred  labors. 

Seldom  has  any  Council  assembled  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  under  circumstances  needing  His  presence  more 
urgently  than  this  which  is  now  about  to  submit  its 
conclusions  to  the  judgment  of  the  Universal  Church. 
Forced  by  the  providence  of  God  to  separate  ourselves 
from  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States, 
— ?  Church  with  whose  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship 
we  are  in  entire  harmon}-,  and  with  whose  action,  up  to  the 
time  of  that  separation,  we  were  abundantly  satisiied — at 
a  moment  when  civil  strife  had  dipped  its  foot  in  blood, 
and  cruel  war  was  desolating  our  homes  and  firesides,  we 
required  a  double  measure  of  grace  to  preserve  the  accus- 
tomed moderation  of  the  Church  in  the  arrangement  of  our 
organic  law,  in  the  adjustment  of  our  code  of  canons,  but 
above  all,  iu  the  preservation,  without  change,  of  those  rich 
treasures  of  doctrine  and  worship  wliicli  have  come  to  us 
enshrined  in  our  P>ook  of  Common  Prayer.     Cut  off  like- 

340902 


wise  from  all  communication  with  our  sister  Churches  of 
the  world,  we  have  been  compelled  to  act  without  any  in- 
terchange of  opinion  even  witii  our  Mother  Church,  and 
alone  and  unaided  to  arrange  for  ourselves  the  organization 
under  which  we  should  do  our  part  in  carrying  on  to  their 
consummation  the  purposes  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  trust 
that  the  Spirit  of  Christ  has  indeed  so  directed,  sanctified 
and  governed  us  in  our  work,  that  we  shall  be  approved  by 
all  those  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  and 
in  truth,  and  who  arc  earnest  in  preparing  the  world  for  His 
coming  in  glorious  majesty  to  judge  both  the  quick  and 
'ho  dead. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  Confederate  States,  under  which  we  have  been  exerci- 
sing our  legislative  functions,  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Church  from  which  we  have  been  providentially  separated, 
save  that  we  have  introduced  into  it  a  germ  of  expansion 
whi'.'li  was  wanting  in  the  old  constitution.  This  is  found  in 
the  permission  wliicli  is  granted  to  existing  Dioceses  to  form 
themselves  by  subdivision  into  Provinces,  and  l)y  this  pro- 
cess gradually  to  reduce  our  immense  Pioceses  into  Episcopal 
Soos,  more  like  those  vdiich,  in  primitive  times,  covered 
the  territories  of  the  Koman  Empire.  It  is  at  present  but 
a  germ,  and  may  lie,  for  many  years,  without  expansion, 
bui  being  there,  it  gives  promise,  in  the  future,  of  a  more 
close  and  constant' Episcopal  supervision  than  is  possible 
under  our  [)rescnt  arrangement. 

The  Canon  law,  which  has  been  adopted  during  our  pre- 
sent session,  is  altogether  in  its  spirit,  and  almost  in  its  let- 
ter, identical  \vi"h  tluit  under  v/hich  we  have  liitherto  pros- 
pered. We  have  siniplitied  it  in  some  respects,  and  have 
made  it  more  clear  and  plain  in  many  of  its  requirements ;  but 
no  changes  have  been  introduced  whicli  have  altered  either 
i;s  tone  or  character.  It  is  the  same  moderate,  just  and  equal 
body  of  Ecclesiastical  Law  by  which  the  Church  has  been 
governed  on  this  continent  since  her  reception  from  the 
Church  of  England  of  the  treasures  of  an  apostolic  minis- 
try and  a  liturgical  form  of  worship. 


The  Prayer  Book  we  have  loft  untouched  iu  ever}'  par- 
ticular save  where  a  eliange  of  our  civil  government  and 
the  formation  of  a  new  nation  have  made  alteration  es^5en- 
tially  requisite.  Three  words  comprise  all  the  amendment 
Avhich  has  been  deemed  necessary  in  the  present  emer- 
gency, for  we  have  felt  unwilling,  in  the  existing  confusion 
of  aifairs,  to  lay  rash  hands  upon  a  Book,  consecrated  by 
the  use  of  ages,  and  hallowed  by  associations  the  most  sa- 
cred and  precious.  We  give  you  l>ack  your  Book  of  Com- 
mon Trayer  the  same  as  you  have  entrusted  it  to  us,  be- 
lieving that  if  it  has  slight  defects,  their  removal  had  better 
be  the  gradual  work  of  experience  than  the  hasty  action  of 
a  body  convened  almost  upon  the  outskirts  of  a  camp. 

Besides  this  actual  legislation  which  we  now  submit  to 
you,  our  assembling  together  has  given  us  a  view  of  the 
condition  of  the  Church  throughout  the  Confederate  States 
which  renders  it  our  duty  to  speak  to  you  as  Chief  Pastors 
over  the  flock  of  Christ,  reminding  you  of  the  peculiar  en- 
couragements which  surround  us,  specifying  the  points  to- 
wards which  our  efforts,  as  a  Christian  Church,  should  be  di- 
rected, and  pointing  out  the  deiiciencies  which  require  instant 
correction  and  amendment.  i*s'o  moment  seems  so  |tropitious 
for  the  performance  of  this  duty,  as  that  in  which  wc  are 
beginning  a  new  life  in  the  Church,  and  are  preparing  to 
stamp  ourselves  upon  the  world  for  good  or  for  evil. 

Our  highest  encouragement  is  deriveU  from  the  fact  that 
we  hold  the  sacred  trust  of  the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the 
saints,  and  that  Ave  hold  it  in  connexion  with  a  ministry 
whose  succession  from  Christ  and  Ilis  Apostles  is  undoubt- 
ed, and  with  a  form  of  worship  simple  and  pure  yet  sublime 
and  scriptural.  These  are  not  gifts  to  make  a  boast  of,  ii: 
to  use  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
kingdom.  Far  from  filling  us  Avith  A-ain  g  ory,  their  pc^s- 
session  should  humble  us  to  the  dust,  unless  avc  iq-)provu 
ourselves  faithful  stcAA'ards  of  nucli  incstinuible  treasures. 
To  AAdiom  much  has  been  committed,  from  him  Avill  mu(;]i 
be  required,  and   it  remains  for  us  to  prove  whether  avc 


340902 


6 

have  deserved  so  spiritual  an  iiilieritance.  But  possessing 
them,  we  may  rightfully  feel  that  we  enter  upon  our  war- 
fare with  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  having  all  the 
strength  that  Divine  Truth  and  a  Divine  Commission  can 
give  us.  We  can  press  on  without  any  douhts  resting 
upon  our  hearts  as  to  the  trutli  which  we  are  teaching,  as 
to  the  validity  of  the  sacraments  which  we  are  administer- 
ing, or  as  to  the  authority  of  the  orders  which  we  are  trans- 
mitting. Upon  all  these  points  we  are  secure,  and  we  can 
go  forward  offering  to  all  men,  with  boldness  and  confi- 
dence, the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  fellow- 
ship of  tlie  saints.  Whatever  hindrances  we  may  meet,  or 
whatever  contradiction  of  men  we  may  encounter,  we  can 
rest  assured  that  truth  will  finally  prevail,  and  that  God 
will  set  His  Son  upon  His  holy  hill  of  Zion. 

Our  next  source  of  encouragement  is  that  we  enter  upon 
our  work  with  our  Dioceses  fully  organized,  and  with  the 
means  which  Christ  has  instituted  in  His  Church  well  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  Confederate  States.  When  we 
remember  the  very  different  auspices  under  which  the  ven- 
erated Fathers  of  the  American  Church  began  their  work, 
and  mark  how  It  has  grown  and  prospered,  we  should  in- 
deed take  courage  and  feel  no  fear  for  the  future.  In  their 
case  all  their  ecclesiastical  arrangements  had  to  be  organ- 
ized ;  in  our  case  we  find  these  arrangements  all  ready 
to  our  hand,  and  with  the  seal  of  a  happy  experience 
stamped  upon  them.  In  their  case  every  prejudice  of  the 
land  was  strong  against  them.  In  our  case  we  go  forward 
with  the  leading  minds  of  our  new  Republic  cheering  us 
on  ])y  their  communion  with  us,  and  with  no  prejudications 
to  overcome,  save  those  which  arise  from  a  lack  of  acquaint- 
ance with  our  doctrine  and  worship.  In  their  case  they 
were  indeed  few  and  separated  far  from  one  another  in 
their  work  upon  the  walls  of  Zion.  In  our  case  we  are 
comparatively  well  compacted,  extending  in  an  unbroken 
cliain  of  Dioceses  from  the  Potomac  to  the  confines  of  the 
l\e[»nblic.     Despite  all  these  disadvantages,  "the  little  one 


became :{i  thousand  and  tlie  small  one  a  stronii'  nation,"  and 
shall  -Nvc  despond  ?  If  we  he  watchful,  and  strengthen  the 
things  that  remain,  our  God  will  not  forsake  us,  hut  will 
''lengthen  our  cords  and  stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  our 
habitations."  In  visible  token  of  this  fact,  we  have  already, 
since  our  organization,  added  to  the  House  of  Bishops  tlii3 
Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Wilmer  as  Bishop  of  Alabama,  and  received 
into  communion  with  the  (Miurch  llie  Diocese  of  Arkansas. 

Another  source  of  encouragement  is  that  there  has  been 
no  division  in  I  he  Church  in  the  Confederate  States.  Be- 
lieving, with  a  wonderful  unanimity,  that  the  providence 
of  God  had  guided  onr  footsteps,  and  for  His  own  inscruta- 
ble purposes,  had  forced  us  into  a  separate  organization, 
there  has  been  nothing  to  embarrass  ns  in  the  preliminary 
movements  which  have  condurti'il  us  \o  our  present  jiosi- 
tion.  AVith  one  mind  and  with  one  heart  we  have  entered 
upon  this  blessed  work,  and  w(^  stand  together  this  day  a 
l)aml  of  bi'others,  one  in  faith,  one  in  ho[)e,  one  in  charity. 
There  may  be  among  us,  as  there  always  must  be,  minute 
<liiterences  of  opinion  and  feeling,  but  there  is  nothing  to 
liinder  our  keeping  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  lurnd  of 
peace.  We  are  all  satisfied  that  we  are  walking  in  the 
patli  of  duty,  and,  that  the  light  of  God's  countenance  has 
been  wonderfully  lifted  up  upon  ns.  He  has  comforted  us 
in  our  darkest  hours,  and  has  not  i)ermitted  our  hearts  to 
faint  in  the  da}^  of  adversity. 

These  striking  encouragements  vouehsafed  tc  us  Innu 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  .lesus  Christ,  shouhl  ill]  onr  hearts 
with  earnest  devotedness,  and  shcmhl  lead  ns  even  now  to 
in(piire,  -'J^oid,  what  wdt  thon  !ia\-e  n.s  to  do?"  AimI  the 
answer  to  this  question  will  lead  us,  your  Ciiit  i'  Tasi'M--.  1o 
specily  the  points  towards  which  om-ellbrts,  as  a  Christian 
Cliurch,  should  he  especially  direded. 

Christ  has  founded  His  Church  upon  love — for  (\<.n\  is 
Love.  It  is  the  highest  of  all  Christian  L'-races.  '-And  now 
abideth  Faith,  Hope,  Charity,  these  three,  but  the  greatest 
of   these   is    Charity."      Charity!    not   mere   alms-giving. 


8 

which  is  only  one  of  its  manifestations,  but  Love  !  Christ- 
ian Love  !  As  Christ  our  Lord  loved  the  world  so  divinely 
that  he  was  satisfied  to  sufler  all  things  for  its  redemption, 
80  does  He  command  us  to  love  one  another  and  to  be  ready 
to  do  all  things  for  each  other's  salvation.  This  was  His 
especial  commandment:  "A  new  commandment  give  I 
unto  yoUj^that  ye  love  one  another."  And  this  is  truly  not 
only  the  new  commandment,  but  the  summary  of  all  the 
commandments.  The  whole  Gospel  is  redolent  with  it, 
with  a  broad,  comprehensive,  all-embracing  love,  ap- 
pointed, like  Aaron's  rod,  to  swallow  up  all  the  other 
Christian  graces,  and  to  manifest  the  spiritual  glory  of  God 
in  C^hrist.  A  Church  without  love  !  What  could  you  augur 
of  a  Church  of  God  without  Faith,  or  a  Church  of  Christ 
without  Hope?  But  Love  is  a  higher  grace  than  either 
Faith  or  Hope,  and  its  absence  from  a  Church  is  just  the 
absence  of  the  very  life-blood  from  the  body. 

Our  first  duty,  therefore,  as  the  children  of  God,  is  to 
send  forth  from  this  Council  our  greetings  of  love  to  the 
Churches  of  God  all  the  world  over.  We  greet  them  in 
Christ,  and  rejoice  that  they  are  partakers  with  us  of  all  the 
grace  which  is  treasured  up  in  Him.  We  lay  down  to-day 
before  the  altar  of  the  Crucified  all  our  burdens  of  sin,  and 
offer  our  prayers  for  the  Church  Militant  upon  earth.  What- 
ever may  be  their  aspect  towards  us  politically,  we  cannot 
forget  that  they  rejoice  with  us  "  in  the  one  Lord,  the  one 
Faith,  the  one  Baptism,  the  one  God,  and  Father  of  all,"  and 
we  wish  them  Godspeed  in  all  the  sacred  ministries  of  the 
Church.  iSTothing  but  love  is  consonant  with  the  exhibition 
of  Christ's  love  which  is  manifested  in  His  Church,  and  any 
note  of  mtin's  bitterness,  except  against  sin,  would  be  a  sound 
of  discord  mingling  with  the  sweet  harmonies  of  earth  and 
heaven.  We  rejoice  in  this  golden  chord  which  binds  us  to- 
gether in  Christ  our  Redeemer,  and  like  the  ladder  which 
Jacob  saw  in  vision,  with  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  de- 
scending upon  it,  may  it  ever  be  the  channel  along  which 
sliall  fiash  the  Christian  greetings  of  the  children  of  God. 


9 

But  while  we  send  forth  this  love  to  the  whole  Church 
militant  upon  earth,  let  us  not  forget  that  special  love  is 
due  hy  ns  towards  those  of  our  own  household.  To  us  have 
been  committed  the  treasures  of  the  Church,  and  those  of 
our  own  kindred  and  lineage,  who  have  sprung  from  our 
loins  both  naturally  and  spiritually,  who  are  now  united 
with  us  in  a  sacred  conflict  for  the  dearest  rights  of  man, 
ask  us  for  the  bread  of  life.  They  pray  us  for  that  which 
we  are  commanded  to  give,  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. 
They  put  in  no  claim  for  any  thing  worldly — for  any  thing 
alien  from  the  mission  of  the  Church.  Their  petition  is 
that  we  will  fulfil  the  ver^^  purpose  of  our  institution,  and 
give  them  the  means  of  grace.  Every  claim  which  man 
can  have  upon  his  fellow-man  they  have  upon  us,  and  hav- 
ing these  claims  they  ask  only  for  the  Church.  They  pray 
us  not  to  let  them  perish  in  the  wilderness  ;  not  to  permit 
them  to  be  cut  off  from  the  sweet  communion  of  the 
Church.  "If,"  says  the  Apostle,  speaking  of  christian  pro- 
fessors, and  alluding  to  mere  earthly  things,  "  any  provide 
not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  them  of  his  own  House, 
he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel ;" 
what  shall  we  say  of  that  Church  which  shall  not  provide 
for  its  own  children  ?  How  can  it  hope  to  be  watered  itself 
with  gracious  rain  from  Heaven,  when  it  hoards  up  for  itself 
the  river  of  life,  which  is  ordained  to  flow  through  its 
channels  of  grace  ? 

Many  of  the  States  of  this  (Confederacy  are  Missionary 
ground.  The  population  is  sparse  and  scattered  ;  the  child- 
ren of  the  Church  are  few  and  far  between  ;  the  Priests  of 
the  Lord  can  reach  them  only  after  great  labor  and  priva- 
tion. Hitherto  has  their  scanty  subsistence  been  eked  out 
from  the  common  treasury  of  our  united  Church.  Cut  oft" 
from  that  recourse  by  our  political  action,  in  which  they 
have  heartily  acquiesced,  they  turn  to  us  and  pray  us  to  do, 
at  least  as  much  for  them,  as  we  have  been  accustomed  to 
do  for  the  Church  from  which  they  have  been  separated  by  a 
civil  necessity.     "We  can  do  what  they  ask,  and  we  ought 


10 

cheerfully  to  do  it.  Unless  we  take  care  that  the  Gospel 
is  sent  to  these  isolated  children  of  the  Church,  who  will 
heed  their  cry  ?  They  have  no  Church  to  cry  to,  but  the 
Church  which  w^e  now  represent,  and  the}'  cast  themselves 
upon  us  in  full  faith,  that  we  will  do  our  whole  duty  towards 
them.  They  are  one  with  us  in  faith,  in  care,  in  suffering; 
they  arc  bearing  like  evils  with  those  wliich  disturb  us,  and 
they  have  no  worship  to  cheer  and  support  them,  no  Gos- 
pel to  preach  to  them  patience  and  long-suffering.  For 
Christ's  sake  they  pra}'  that  they  may  be  given  at  least  a 
Mother's  bosom  to  die  upon. 

Voices  of  supplication  come  to  us  also  from  the  distant 
shores  of  Africa  and  the  East,  but  ordy  their  echo  reaches 
us  from  the  throne  of  grace.  The  policy  of  man  has  sliut 
out  those  utterances  from  us.  How  it  can  help  their  cause 
to  separate  the  children  of  God  from  one  another.  He  oidy 
knows,  but  we  can  hear  them  when  we  kneel  in  prayer,  and 
commune  with  their  Spirits  through  the  Spirit  of  Clirist. 
But  God  is  perchance  intending,  through  these  inscrutable 
measures,  to  shut  us  up  to  that  great  work  wdiich  He  has 
placed  at  our  very  doors,  and  which  is,  next  to  her  own  ex- 
pansion, the  Church's  greatest  work  in  these  Confederate 
States.  The  religious  instruction  of  the  negroes  has  been 
thrust  upon  us  in  such  a  wonderful  manner  that  we  must 
be  blind  not  to  perceive  that  not  only  our  spiritual  but  our 
national  life  is  wrapped  up  in  their  welfare.  "With  them  Ave 
stand  or  fiiU,  and  God  will  not  permit  us  to  be  separated  in 
interest  or  in  fortune. 

The  time  has  come  when  the  Church  should  press  more 
urgently  than  she  has  hitherto  done  upon  her  laity,  ilie 
solemn  fact,  that  the  slaves  of  the  South  are  not  merely  so 
much  property,  l)ut  are  a  sacred  trust  committed  to  us,  as  a 
people,  to  1)6  prepared  for  the  work  which  God  may  have 
for  them  to  do,  in  the  future.  While  under  this  tutelage 
He  freely  gives  to  us  their  labor,  but  expects  us  to  give  back 
to  them  that  religious  and  moral  instruction  which  is  to 


11 

elevate  tlieiii  in  the  scale  of  lieinij;;.  Aiul  while  iucul- 
eatiiig  tliis  truth,  the  (/hurch  must  oifcr  more  freely 
her  ministrations  for  their  henetit  and  improvement. 
Her  hiity  must  set  tlie  example  of  readiness  to  fulfil 
their  duty  towards  these  people,  and  her  elergy  must 
strip  themselves  of  pride  and  fastidiousness  and  indolence, 
and  rush,  with  the  zeal  of  martyrs,  to  this  labor  of  love. 
The  teaehinii;s  of  the  rhui'oh  ai"e  those  which  best  suit  a 
people  passing  from  ignorance  to  civilization,  because  vt^hile 
it  represses  all  fanaticism,  it  fastens  upon  the  memory  the 
great  facts  of  our  religion,  and  through  its  objective  w^orship 
attracts  and  enchains  them.  So  far  from  relaxing,  in  their 
case,  the  forms  of  the  Church,  good  will  be  permanently 
done  to  them  just  in  [troportion  as  we  teach  them  through 
their  senses  and  their  affections.  If  subjected  to?  the  teach- 
ings of  a  bald  spiritualism,  they  Avill  find  food  for  their 
senses  and  their  child-like  fancies  in  superstitious  observan- 
ces of  their  own,  leading  too  often  to  crime  and  licentious- 
ness. 

It  is  likewise  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  press  upon  the 
masters  of  the  country  their  obligation,  as  Christian  men,  so 
to  arrange  this  institution  as  not  to  necessitate  the  violation 
of  those  sacred  relations  -which  God  has  created  and  which 
man  cannot,  consistently  with  Christian  duty,  annul.  The 
systems  of  labor  which  prevail  in  Europe  and  wdiicli  are,  in 
many  respects,  more  severe  than  ours,  are  so  arranged  as 
to  prevent  all  necessity  for  the  separation  of  parents  and 
children  and  of  husbands  and  wives,  and  a  very  little  care 
upon  our  part,  Avonld  rid  the  system  u[)on  wliicli  we  are 
about  to  plant  our  national  life,  of  these  unchristian  features. 
It  belongs,  especially,  to  the  1^4)iscopal  Cliurch  to  urge  a 
proper  teaching  upon  this  subject,  for  in  \\ov  f  )1(1  and  in  her 
congregations  are  found  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  great 
slaveholders  of  the  country.  "We  rejoice  to  be  enabled  to 
say  that  the  public  sentiment  is  rapidly  becoming  sound 
upon  this  subject,  and  that  the  Legislatures  of  several  of 
the  Confederate  States  Inue  already  taken  steps  towards 


12 

this  consummation.  Hitherto  have  we  been  hindered  by 
the  pressure  of  abolitionism;  now  that  w^e  have  thrown  off 
from  us  that  hateful  and  infidel  pestilence,  we  should  prove 
to  the  world  that  we  are  faithful  to  our  trust  and  the  Church 
should  lead  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  in  this  work  of  justice  and 
of  mercv. 

Another  duty,  which,  for  the  present,  devolves  upon 
the  Church,  is  an  oversight  of  the  children  of  God,  as  they 
lie  without  religion  and  without  Christian  care  in  the  camps 
and  hospitals  of  our  Government.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  say 
that  there  has  been  no  Christian  supervision  of  our  soldiers, 
and  we  cheerfully  concede  all  praise  and  thanks  to  those 
w^ho  have  done  their  duty  through  danger  and  privation  ; 
but  we  must  affirm  that  there  is  still  a  great  lack  of  service 
on  the  Church's  part  in  this  connexion.  From  whatever 
cause  it  has  arisen,  whether  from  the  scarcity  of  clergymen, 
or  from  unwillingness  to  bear  the  hardships  of  the  soldiers' 
life,  we  are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that  we  have  been  una- 
ble to  find  men  who  were  willing  to  answer  this  call  and  to 
take  their  places,  not  as  soldiers  fighting  for  their  country, 
but  as  soldiers  fighting  for  the  victory  of  Christ  over  sin  and 
death.  In  the  opinion  of  the  House  of  Bishops,  no  position 
is  more  suited,  at  this  moment,  to  the  true  spirit  of  Christ 
and  His  Church,  than  that  of  a  faithful  minister  of  the  grace 
of  God  and  of  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church  to  the  soldiers 
in  the  field,  or  in  the  hospital ;  and  we  would  urge  it  upon 
those  ministers  who  have  been  exiled  from  their  parishes,  to 
enter  upon  this  work  as  their  present  duty,  trusting  for 
support  to  Him  who  has  said,  "I  will  never  leave  thee  nor 
forsake  thee." 

The  most  striking  deficiency  in  the  Church's  work  which 
we  perceive  in  looking  at  the  Church's  life,  is  a  lack  of  zeal 
in  spreading  the  influences  of  the  Church  through  her  ser- 
vices and  Sacraments.  Our  ministry  has  become  too  local 
and  sedentary,  too  well  satisfied  to  git  down  and  do  tht 
work  which  it  has  undertaken  to  do,  and  overlooking  the 


13 

fields  white  for  the  harvest  which  are  spread  out  all  around 
them,  and  which  cannot  be  cultivated  save  through  their 
agency.  Every  well  established  congregation  should  con- 
sider itself  as  a  centre  of  ^Missionary  work,  and  should 
encourage  its  pastor  to  extend  his  usefulness  beyond  its  own 
limits,  and  while  he  is  a  Priest  to  them,  to  be,  in  some  mea- 
sure a  Missionary  to  all  about  him.  As  long  as  the  selfish 
idea  is  indulged,  that  a  minister  is  tied  down  to  a  local  con- 
gregation and  has  no  business  to  work  around  him,  the 
Church  must  languish  or  increase  but  slowly.  Missionaries 
cannot  be  furnished  for  every  village  and  neighborhood,  and 
they  must  remain  uncared  for  by  the  Church,  unless  the 
settled  clergy  will  make  up  their  minds  to  extendi  the  sphere 
of  their  operations  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  their  own 
immediate  cures. 

^  Another  deficiency  which  requires  amendment,   is  the 
little  spiritual  intercourse   which  takes  place  among  the 
Clergy  in  their  work  for  the  Church.     Each  man  works  in 
his  sphere,  but  for  the  most  part  he  gives   nothing  to    his 
brotlicr   clergyman,    and   receives    nothing    from    him    in 
return.     When  our  Lord  sent  forth  his  Apostles,  He  sent 
them  two  by  two  for  the  evident  purpose  that  they  should 
support,  strengthen  and  comfort  each  other.     The  spirit  of 
this  action  is  very  much  overlooked  in  the  Church,  and  the 
Clergy  are  weakened  by  it.     While  the  House  of  Bishops 
would  iiot  specify  any  mode  by  which  this  defect  should  be 
remedied,  it  would  recommend  to  the  Clergy  a  more  free, 
spiritual  intercourse,  a  more  frequent  interchange  of  clerical 
services,    greater  communion  in  prayer   and  "in    counsel. 
Many  a  despondent  heart  would  thus  be  cheered,  and  many 
a  weak  brother  would  be  comforted  and  strengthened. 
^  Another  deficiency  which  requires  amendment,  is  the 
Httle  spiritual  help  which  is  given  to  the   Clergy  by  tlie 
Laity.     We  have  no  reference  now  to  the  temporal  support 
of  the  Clergy,  although  we  might  well  dwell  upon  that,  but 
to  the  spiritual  help  which  a  Christian  Laity  might  give  to 
the  energy.     In  reading  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  find 


14 

many  illustrations  of  this  truth,  and  we  perceive  how  the 
greatest  of  the  Apostles  was  not  above  the  help  of  his  yoke- 
fellows in  the  Gospel.  There  are  many  ways  in  which 
spititual  and  earnest  Laymen  can  help  their  Clergy  in  the 
work  of  the  Church,  and  under  their  guidance  and  direc- 
tion, can  become  valuable  Missionaries  of  Christ,  even 
while  unordained.  It  requires  sacrifice  and  self-denial, 
but  we  must  all  remember  that  we  are  not  our  own,  but 
are  bought  with  a  price,  and  belong  to  Christ,  body,  soul 
and  spirit. 

But  over  and  above  all  these  special  deficiencies,  looms 
up  that  greatest  of  all  deficiencies,  the  lack  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  and  with  our  Churches.  Because  of  the  degree  to 
which  spiritual  influences  have  been  abused  in  our  land,  we 
hav^  been  tempted  to  run  into  the  other  extrenie,  and  to 
forget  that  we  are  living  under  what  the  Apostle  calls  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spn^it,  and  that  the  Church's  work  must 
derive  all  its  power  from  His  presence.  Our  danger  is  to 
merge  the  Holy  Ghost  into  the  means  of  grace,  and  over- 
look the  important  fact  that  He  is  a  personal  agent,  acting  in- 
deed through  those  means,  but  not  necessarily  tied  to  them. 
Our  Saviour  said  :  ''The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence 
it  Cometh  or  whither  it  goeth,  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of 
the  Spirit."  And  as  with  the  individual,  so  with  the 
Church.  The  Holy  Spirit  will  be  in  the  Church,  if  His 
presence  is  kept  there  by  an  acknowledgement  of  His  power, 
by  a  sense  of  His  necessity,  by  a  constant  prayer  for  His  pre- 
sence ;  but  the  addresses  to  the  Churches  in  Asia  Minor 
instruct  us  to  be  watcliful  over  ourselves,  and  to  hold  fast 
by  Him,  who  is  the  representative  of  Christ  upon  earth, 
while  He  is  interceding  and  advocating  for  us  in  Heaven. 
Let  the  Church  and  her  Ministers  always  bear  in  mind, 
that  the  growth  of  the  Church,  and  the  vitality  of  the 
Church  are  "not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit," 
saith  the  Lord. 

And  now  it  only  remains  for  us  to  bid  you,  one   and  all, 


15 

ail  aftectionatc  farewell.  We  cauuot  but  remember  that 
when  we  last  separated  from  you,  there  stood  among  us  two 
venerated  brethren,  dearly  beloved  m  the  Lord,  who  have 
since  entered  into  their  rest.  When  we  parted  we  knew  it 
must  be  so,  but  we  could  not  foresee  where  the  hand  of 
Death  would  falL  And  now  again  we  know,  that  separa- 
ting once  more  for  the  like  space  of  time,  we  shall  not  all 
meet  again.  Whose  shall  be  the  summons  ?.  Well  for  ns 
that  the  curtain  of  God's  providence  hides  this  knowledge 
from  us,  teaching  us  the  lesson  of  Christian  truth,  that  we 
must  all  watch  and  be  sober,  because  we  know  neither  the 
day  nor  the  hour  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh.  May  God's 
gracious  Providence  guide  you  in  satety  to  your  homes,  and 
preserve  them  from  the  desolations  of  war.  And  should 
we  n(^t  lie  permitted  to  battle  together  any  more  for  Christ 
in  the  Church  militant,  may  we  be  deemed  worthy  to  be 
members  of  the  (Miureh  triumphant,  where  with  prophets, 
apostles,  martyrs,  saints  and  angels,  we  may  ascribe  honor 
and  glory,  dominion  and  praise  to  Him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  Throne,  and  to  the  Lamb,  forever! 


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